on the road…

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I can practically hear Juliette Gordon Low rolling in her grave. What the hell is going on here? Relax, Juliette…..it’s just a party in Tucson at the Tap & Bottle to explore pairings of Girl Scout Cookies and beer. Sounds odd, and it was. We sampled four different GS cookies, which were matched with distinctively different beers – hopefully to complement flavors. Not so sure about the success of the pairings, but it was a terrific afternoon with camping pals Vern & Ilene. Tap & Bottle is a superfun spot to spend a few hours, and they did the Girl Scouts proud – there must have been 200 people jammed inside, and everyone bought a box or two of cookies in addition to the samples that came with the beer. The table next to us (of guys, naturally) brought their own cookies in – we saw two different bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies and potato chips that they were pairing with their own beer choices. This was a good-hearted event that had support from all parties – marketing folks from the Girl Scouts, beer drinkers, local college students, and a full complement of tiny little Girl Scouts earnestly hawking their wares (safely outside the bar on the sidewalk, with their parents).

We decided to take the newly christened Tucson Streetcar for a full-circuit ride. What a gem this is! Running through the entertainment/club district to the University, to the downtown business area and out to the Expressway edges of town, it serves a diverse population. Our $4 daily pass gave us unlimited on/off privileges.

We hopped off to get John a nitro coffee at Ilene’s favorite coffee stop. Those of you who are fans of the nitro taps in a brewpub can perhaps relate to this. The coffee wasn’t great, but we (perhaps, generously) attributed this to the fact that it was late on a Sunday afternoon, and it might not have been at its freshest.

Tucson has many great sights, and so much history. We decided that we need to spend a few days just cycling around town and enjoying some of the oddities that make this such a cool spot to visit.

Having running commentary from Vern as to what we were seeing from our streetcar seats made this a most enjoyable tour.

We’ve fallen into our regular Green Valley routine. We hike a bit, bike a bit, and do nothing A LOT! The weather here has been spectacular! Well above normal temps, which puts it into the mid-70s (and sometimes into the low 80s) nearly every day. Bright sunshine. We hiked up to Rogers Rock in Madera Canyon one day this week. Perfect weather made the eight mile round trip pretty easy. This is one of our favorite hikes every year.Seven of us + two dogs made the trek to a spectacular spot for lunch. The light spots in the background are the enormous piles of mine tailings in Green Valley – the copper mines are running full force, and the tailing piles significant. Mining is a huge industry in this area, and it has some benefits, I’m sure. But, the downside is that it sucks an enormous amount of the precious water resources of the area, the environmental (and visual) effects are a significant downside.

Of course, we’re cycling often. Thursday was a first for us – while John and I were cycling to the meetpoint for our regular Thursday ride, a coyote darted out from the roadside, and nearly had his snout in my front wheel before I shouted STOP! or HEY! (not sure what happened here). He and I both braked severely! Never have I seen a coyote so close up. It was unnerving. Twenty minutes later, our group was rolling through Quail Creek, an upscale golf course/housing development when three coyotes appeared on the narrow strip of ground between the pavement and the walled back yard of the nearby house. Our 10 bikes couldn’t have been more than eight feet away from these guys! It was breathtaking.

Our rental house is in a development where the abundance of birds has been such a pleasure. Every morning we hear cactus wrens, and curved-billed thrashers call. It’s amazing to hear them sing out. Areas covered by low-lying prickly pear cactus are havens for the Gambel’s Quail. As I stroll with Jezzy in the early morning, I can hear them grumbling, although I usually can’t spot them. All of the sudden, one will dart out, and a whole stream will follow. They are amazing to see.

The daily sights and sounds of the Arizona desert never fail to delight. Although the cactus aren’t yet flowering, the prickly pear are loaded with fruit. Around here, it’s common to find jams, jellies, and salsa made with prickly pear. A gorgeous napolito (thornless) prickly pear is right around the corner from us. This particular plant is also a coveted snack for one of the meandering javalinas who patrol the neighborhood at night. If I were a javalina, I would also chose spineless!The Gila woodpecker makes it home in the Sagauro cactus. The Saguaro survives this invasion by totally isolating the hole in an oblong capsule. We observed a pod collected from a dead Saguaro in the Visitor Center at Organ Pipe Cactus National Park – it’s an amazing adaption.

Cactus shapes never cease to amaze me.The colors in morning and evening are especially lush.We noticed a chiminea (a free-standing, clay fireplace) in the patio area of our rental house. We asked our landlords if they would mind if we actually used it (looked as though it was new, although it had a crack). With their blessing, we have thoroughly enjoyed our evenings on the patio, watching the sun set on the nearby Santa Rita Mountains. We even rescued the hotdog forks from the Fireball and roasted hot dogs one evening.

Our new refrigerator has arrived, been installed, and appears to work just fine. Yay! We’ve received the new regulator for our Camp Chef stove, so we’re back in business on that front. We’ll be ready to hit the road again on March 1.

To top it all of, I noticed this seasonal greeting on my morning stroll today.All is well here – hope the same is true for each of you.

Tucson is a city with a lot going for it. It is great to visit, and we continually find new things ngs to delight us. The warm weather now is wonderful…..when it starts to heat up in a month or so, I’m happy to be outta here!

Well, Juliette Gordon Lowe was from Savannah and you know how they love to party, so the beer + cookie event sounds like a natural to me. I love Tucson and your descriptions make me want to visit again. What kind of fridge did you end up getting for the Fireball? Give Jezzie a pat for us and keep it coming with the pictures and tales from the road.

I know nothing about Savannah, but I hope your thoughts are accurate. The only Girl Scouts I see though are 4-6 years old. That must be about the time they discover boys, Facebook, and check out of the Scouts. Or maybe that’s just AZ.

We purchased an Engel fridge. It is exactly like the one we (and you) had in the original setup. The Norcold has been replaced by a new model, which I complained about after receiving it, thinking we were getting an exact replacement. John ebay’d that to a new home. John thinks that the Norcold fridges are actually manufactured by Engel, and sold under Norcold label.

Jezzy getting lots of hikes in these days. She’s learned to walk behind me in the desert, so that I’m the one to pick up any stray cactus bits that may have collected in our path. Such a princess!

Are you going to the BRR? I’m having a bit of remorse tbgat we won’t be there.

I was wondering when we might hear from you guys again. Sounds like you’re having a wonderful stay in Tucson! We’re not too sure about those beer and Girl Scout Cookie tastings! But it was a great way for the GSs to sell cookies!!! Your warm days sound great – how cool are the mornings? We’ve had beautiful weather here in SW Florida, but the mornings have been quite cool – 40s (last night got down to 39). We have two more weeks before we head for home.

Hey, Susan…..you’ve been pretty quiet yourself! We were wondering if you were still in FL.

It gets down into the 40s at night here, and warms up fairly quickly in the morning. For our 9am bike rides, I usually wear shorts, shirt, and a wind vest, if that tells you anything. We haven’t used either the heat or the air conditioning in our house.

The Girl Scout thing was fun, but nothing to be taken too seriously. We are always game for trying stuff like this out.

Hope you are still having fun in Florida. Is this your longest stint in your T@DA? Still like it?

Yep, we’re still in FL in the T@DA and loving it (both T@DA and Florida!) We’re planning a long trip next year (late summer/early fall) out west.
A few more camper friends are arriving daily now. They’ll be here all next week and then we start heading for home at the end of the month. We’ll stop and stay with my dad for a few days (still in FL).
Hope you’re having good luck with your new fridge. We have two of the old ones in our T@DA and I’m not looking forward to replacing either of them if and when the time comes.

Although I love hanging around Green Valley, I’m getting the itch to be rolling again. John might be able to help you out when it comes time to replace yours. He’s had ours in/out so many times, he could probably do it blindfolded!

What I wouldn’t give right now for the chance to join you for a day or two right now! Great weather, good scenery, and wildlife, best of all, no snow! It’s good to hear that the Fireball is set to go, but if I were you, I wouldn’t start back towards Michigan until April.

Thanks, Jerry. It would be wonderful to hike with you here. I know that it would sharpen my eye! Were going on a Ranger-led hike today into a Canyon with restricted access, where we’ve never hiked before. It’s in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, where we camped last month. Hoping to see birds I’ve not seen before. Also hoping that all our warm weather hasn’t awakened the rattlesnakes yet. Should be fun.

We have some family stuff going on, so we have to be home first week of April. But, don’t go to any bother to save any snow for us!